Angela Webb didn’t think she would end up a chef when she moved from Myanmar to the United States.
“I've always loved to cook. And Myanmar food is something that I craved very deeply when I was in college. I cooked for my friends and they all loved it,” said Webb while frying up eggs at her restaurant in Ashland.
Between Sacramento and Portland is a Burmese food desert besides this oasis — Razi Authentic Burmese Kitchen. It’s a tiny shop with a hand chalked menu on the wall. There’s one table but it’s basically a takeout joint.
Webb runs it with her family where they serve classic Myanmar dishes like their best seller tea leaf salad. It's made with fermented tea leaves which can be hard to find here, so Webb ferments her own supply.
Before moving to the U.S. in 2014, she lived in Yangon, Myanmar’s capital, during a period when the country was transitioning to a democracy from decades of military rule.
Myanmar was opening up culturally and economically. For Webb, one of the tell-tale signs of progress in her city was the arrival of American fast food.
“It was the best time to live. Because we had rumors that KFC was coming in. You know, all these American fast food chain companies are coming in so we were very excited,” explained Webb.
Her brother, David Tingkang, also works at the restaurant. He remembered hearing the news of the military retaking control in February of 2021, effectively ending Myanmar’s experiment in democracy.
“Once I heard it, my body reacts to it. I was shocked. Angry is a very strong word. I will use that word. I was really angry,” said Tingkang.
He watched from his phone as the military arrested politicians and protestors and the country plunged into war.
“People fled to the woods because of the war. They have no medics, they have no water, no food at all,” said Tingkang.
Like many other Myanmar expats he sends money from the restaurant home. Tingkang is a supporter of the National League for Democracy party ousted by the military. Today, there’s a shadow government led by some of those lawmakers. He donates to their humanitarian efforts.
Support from Myanmar citizens in the U.S. — like Webb’s family — is critical according to Elaisa Vahnie, executive director of the Indiana-based Burmese American Community Institute.
“They are relying upon the support of their relatives and friends and families here,” said Vahnie.
He estimated millions of dollars flow into Myanmar from the U.S.
His group, along with other Burmese communities, also advocate for U.S. policy like the BURMA Act that passed in 2022. The federal legislation provides support to pro-democracy groups.
Inside Webb’s restaurant, as Burmese folk music played through the restaurant’s speakers, she explained that her family is never far from her mind.
“You know living in the United States I felt really hopeless for myself and my family and people of Myanmar,” she said.
Her other brother, who is still in Myanmar, quit his government job to protest military control and is without a decent salary. Thousands of others have done the same, joining what’s called the Civil Disobedience Movement.
Her parents, meanwhile, face rising costs for basic food items as the economy freefalls. She sends them a little money — “love gifts” — to make sure they remember she cares.
Soon, Webb will be able to check in on her family and country in person. She’s returning to her home town in Myanmar’s northwestern Kachin State. There’s a photo of the area in her restaurant. Its snow-capped mountains don’t look so different from Ashland.
“So basically if you look outside the window [it] is similar to that,” she said.
She’s taking her infant daughter so that she can see Webb’s mother and grandmother. They hope the four generations of daughters will be able to meet.
Despite all the bad news they hear, Webb and her brother are hopeful. They also hear good news like resistance forces making gains. The country seems more united than ever against the military, she said.
“It has boiled down to, at this moment, [the] realization to every Myanmar citizen that [is] for democracy is that we're on our own. We would have to fight for freedom and we have to earn it ourselves,” she said.
Even from Southern Oregon, it’s a fight she supports.
